Our Brevard crew stopped for a quick minute to say "cheese!" and "fuh-CAN-eh, we did it!!!"

BREVARD, NC–Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard now has North Carolina-brewed Dale’s Pale Ale in the fermenter, a mere seven months after announcing the plan to open a brewery in Brevard, North Carolina.

“It’s been an insane six months!” says Noah Tuttle, head brewer in Brevard. “From moving the family across the country, working on the OB Brew School, and helping get this brewery up and running, it’s been crazy times. But that’s how we roll at Oskar Blues, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Oskar Blues founder Dale Katechis has had a mountain bike parked in Brevard for many years.

“This is a magical place,” Katechis says. “There’s inspiring bike riding in the hills and a supportive small-town mountain community that’s a lot like our home in Colorado.”

About 80 friends, family, local brewers and media visited the new brewery on the historic day for barbecue, beer and a chance to get up close and personal with some shiny new fermenters.

“We’re all enthusiastic to welcome Oskar Blues to Western North Carolina,” says John Lyda, president of the Asheville Brewers Alliance and head brewer at Highland Brewing Company. “Having these folks as part of the brewing community here is gonna be a lot of fun.”

The brewery includes a taproom overlooking the brewery floor that’s open to the public daily and serves Oskar Blues beers on tap and by the can (of course). Special release and one-off beers brewed on the small pilot system will be tapped regularly there.

NYE Grand Opening Celebration - We’ll be throwing down at our New Year’s Eve Grand Opening Hootenanny, open to the public. The party runs from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and features live music from local rock band Jupiter Coyote as well as the Pisgah Pickers, a side project of the renowned Steep Canyon Rangers. There will be some special release beers brewed with local Riverbend Malthouse malts, food trucks, and trolley bus rides from and to Asheville. Proceeds from the event will benefit Muddy Sneakers (http://muddysneakers.org/ ), an experiential outdoor education program for school children based in Brevard.